Objective: Previous reports have suggested a direct relationship between refugee camp experience and levels of psychological distress among refugees. Specifically, it has been postulated that refugee camps with harsh conditions and low levels of social support foster high levels of psychological distress. The present study was designed to assess the relationship between camp conditions and social support within a refugee camp and refugees' levels of psychological distress. Unlike previous reports, which were based on retrospective data, the present study evaluated psychological distress among a group of Vietnamese refugees both prior to departure from Vietnam and during their refugee camp experience.
Method: A group of 101 Vietnamese Amerasians was assessed at a transit centre in Vietnam and subsequently at a refugee camp in the Philippines. Assessment instruments were the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 and a Camp Comparison Questionnaire.
Results: There were significant decreases in symptom levels of anxiety and depression between the transit centre in Vietnam and the refugee camp in the Philippines. However, these changes were not related to changes in refugee camp conditions or social support within the camp.
Conclusions: Contrary to previous reports, levels of psychological distress among this group of Vietnamese refugees were not related to either refugee camp conditions or levels of social support within the camp.
LeeELuF.Assessment and treatment of Asian-American survivors of mass violence. Journal of Traumatic Stress1989; 2:93–120.
2.
SteinBNThe experience of being a refugee: insights from the research literature. In: WilliamsCLWestermeyerJ, eds. Refugee mental health in resettlement countries. Washington DC: Hemisphere, 1986:5–23.
3.
BeiserMTurnerRJGanesanS.Catastrophic stress and factors affecting its consequences among Southeast Asian refugees. Social Science and Medicine1989; 28:183–195.
4.
MurphyHBMFlight and resettlement. Paris: UNESCO, 1955.
5.
Pfister-AmmendeM.Mental hygiene in refugee camps. In: ZwingmannCPfister-AmmendeM, eds. Uprooting and after. New York: Springer, 1973.
6.
ChungRCKagawa-SingerM.Predictors of psychological distress among Southeast Asian refugees. Social Science and Medicine1993; 36:631–639.
7.
HardingRLooneyJ.Mental health consultation in refugee camps. In: WilliamsCLWestermeyerJ, eds. Refugee mental health in resettlement countries. Washington DC: Hemisphere, 1986:205–216.
8.
HauffEVaglumP.Vietnamese boat refugees: the influence of war and flight traumatization on mental health on arrival in the country of resettlement. A community cohort study of Vietnamese refugees in Norway. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia1993; 88:162–168.
9.
McCallinM.Living in detention: a review of the psychosocial well-being of Vietnamese children in the Hong Kong detention centres. Geneva: International Catholic Child Bureau, 1992.
10.
MollicaRFDonelanKTorSThe effect of trauma and confinement on functional health and mental health status of Cambodians living in Thailand-Cambodia border camps. Journal of the American Medical Association1993; 270:581–586.
11.
RumbautRGThe agony of exile: a study of the migration and adaptation of Indochinese refugee adults and children. In: AhearnFLAtheyJL, eds. Refugee children: theory, research, and services. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991:53–91.
12.
BeiserM.Mental health of refugees in resettlement countries. In: HoltzmanWHBournemannTH, eds. Mental health of immigrants and refugees. Austin TX: Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, 1990:51–65.
13.
United States General Accounting Office.Vietnamese Amerasian resettlement. Washington DC: United States General Accounting Office, 1994.
14.
ChuongCHVanL.The Amerasians from Vietnam: a California study. Rancho Cordova CA: Southeast Asia Community Resource Center, 1994.
15.
McKelveyRSMaoARWebbJAA risk profile predicting psychological distress in Vietnamese Amerasian youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry1992; 30:911–915.
16.
McKelveyRSWebbJAMaoARPre-migratory risk factors in Vietnamese Amerasians. American Journal of Psychiatry1993; 150:470–473.
17.
MollicaRFWyshakGde MarneffeDKhuonFLavelleJ.Indochinese versions of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25: a screening instrument for the psychiatric care of refugees. American Journal of Psychiatry1987; 144:497–500.
18.
McKelveyRSWebbJAPremigratory expectations and postmigratory mental health symptoms in Vietnamese Amerasians. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry1996; 35:240–245.
19.
McKelveyRSMaoARWebbJAPremigratory expectations and mental health symptoms in a group of Vietnamese Amerasian youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry1993; 32:414–418.
20.
United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees.The state of the world's refugees. New York: Penguin, 1993.
